Entertainment Musicians killed in plane crashes

Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and J.P. 'The Big Bopper'
He was starting to make it big with his hit "La Bamba," but at only 17-years-old Ritchie Valens tragically died in a plane crash alongside music legends, Buddy Holly (r.) and J.P. "The Big Bopper" (l.), a few miles from Mason City Municipal Airport, near Clear Lake, Iowa on Feb. 3, 1959 -- also referred to as the day the music died. Glen Miller
But they weren't the first plane-related deaths to hit pop music. Legendary bandleader Glenn Miller was the most popular artist in the 1940s. But he gave up a lucrative civilian lifetstyle to join the military in World War II. In 1944, we was set to fly from England to France to play for the troops who had recently liberated Paris. Miller's plane disappeared over the English Channel in 1944 and was never found.

Otis Redding
Otis Redding was on the cusp of stardom when he died in a 1967 plane crash. The soul singer's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," released posthumously, became a monster hit.

Jim Croce
Jim Croce died in a plane crash in 1973, just before his album "I Got a Name" was to be released. The small commercial plane crash was blamed on pilot error. Croce, aged 30, still gets significant radio airplay for hits like "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" and "You Don't Mess Around With Jim."

Lynyrd Skynyrd
By that time, another rock n' roll plane crash had cast its own looming shadow. On October 20, 1977, the plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in rural Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines, along with the band's tour manager and the plane's pilot and co-pilot.

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter, which crashed into a ski slope after the legendary guitarist jammed with Eric Clapton in Wisconsin on August 26, 1990. He was just 35.

Aaliyah
R&B sensation Aaliyah died younger still. The Brooklyn native was just 22 when, after filming a music video, her plane went down shortly after takeoff on August 25, 2001.

John Denver
John Denver is one of several celebrities who died piloting his own plane, as an experimental two-seater he was piloting went down after takeoff on the coast of California on October 12, 1997.

Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline also died at the peak of her career, as severe weather brought her plane down in mountains near Camden, Tenn., on March 5, 1963.

Don't ask me about the years I spent out in the rain
About the ones I spent in love or the ones I spent insane
Don't ask me who I gave my seat to on that plane
I think you already know
I told you that a long time ago

jim croce is one of those guys you always forget you like
then you hear his name or a song of his and remember just how fucking good he was

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Growing up, I'd always make my dad play his tape of Jim Croce's Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits. One of the best Greatest Hits albums out there - not a clunker on the list. Still one of my alltime favorite singers.

I always thought it was funny that he was a pretty ugly dude who sang about love and chicks wanting him. Good for him.

His kid AJ is a singer too. After his dad died, him moms boyfriend blinded him. That messed up. At least he got some of his sight back.